Cintas Gets Award for Water-Reuse Efforts
Evoqua Water Technologies, a company based in Pittsburgh that offers services, systems and technologies to support its customers’ full water lifecycle needs, recently named TRSA operator member Cintas Corp., Mason, OH, as the inaugural recipient of the Evoqua Water Sustainability Award, recognizing excellence in water stewardship, according to a news release.
Cintas saves up to 599 million gallons of water per year through its companywide system. Of note, Cintas is capable of delivering significant improvements in water use compared to home laundry by providing approximately 20 percent water savings – in addition to significant energy and soap savings. Cintas also has demonstrated leadership in sustainability by taking steps to lower water use and minimize environmental impact at several facilities through enhanced wastewater treatment, as well as enhanced water reuse efforts.
“At Cintas, our employee-partners are fully engaged in practicing workplace sustainability and environmental stewardship,” said Pamela Brailsford, senior director of supplier diversity and sustainability at Cintas. “We also recognize the importance of partnering with organizations like Evoqua that share our commitment to improving sustainability within the communities in which we operate.”
For example, at its recently upgraded Newmarket, Ontario, Canada, facility, Cintas has saved more than two million gallons of water in the first three months of operation through a new reuse system. Other Cintas’ facilities are taking significant steps to lessen water impact across operations utilizing water reuse with dissolved air flotation systems and, in some cases, reuse coupled with ultrafiltration and microfiltration systems.
“We are honored to recognize a leader like Cintas Corporation with the Evoqua Water Sustainability Award,” said Ron Keating, Evoqua CEO. “Cintas goes above and beyond to protect the world’s water and it is our privilege to partner with them in their efforts to care for the environment.”
As part of the awards program, Evoqua employees nominated companies from among its 38,000-customer base for their sustainability efforts to treat, re-use and conserve water. Finalists for the award included the following:
- Air Products
- Ford Motor Co.
- The National Mall
- Cintas
Water is an essential element in making everyday products and to everyday life. Evoqua customers use water efficiently to produce those goods as well as to treat water after the goods have been made. It takes approximately 240 gallons of water to make a smart phone, approximately 3,000 gallons to light a 60W light bulb for a year, and approximately 39,000 gallons of water, on average, to produce an automobile.
Cintas recently joined Evoqua at the New York Stock Exchange to open trading and kick off a week-long celebration of World Water Day, which was held on March 22. For more information, visit www.evoqua.com/sustainability.